A RECORD 1.23 million COVID-19 jabs administered in a single day was established in the Philippines, further emphasizing the government’s COVID-19 response team’s seriousness in vaccinating more Filipinos by the end of the year.
National Task Force Against COVID 19 (NTF) chief implementer and vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez, Jr. reported that the Philippines recorded its highest daily vaccination rate yesterday, November 11, with a total of 1,239,981 COVID-19 vaccine doses administered nationwide, closer to the NTF’s target 1.5 million jab rates a day.
Data from the National Vaccination Operations Center (NVOC) showed that out of the total jabs generated yesterday, 698,500 were for the first dose, and 541,481 as second dose.
“We are very pleased to see that the hard work, determination, and concerted effort from all sectors of society has paid dividends and is bringing us closer to our goal of achieving 1.5 million daily jab rate,” Galvez said on Friday.
“The upward trajectory of our daily jab rate, along with the downtrend in the number of COVID-19 cases are solid proof that we are on the right track to a sustainable recovery,” he added.
Galvez said at least one million doses were administered for two consecutive days in the country, adding that a total of 1,052,600 vaccinations were done nationwide on November 10.
Overall, 37,036,577 doses have been administered as first dose, while 31,020,380 Filipinos are now fully vaccinated as of November 11.
“We are now building up the country’s momentum in inoculating millions of individuals in a single day. We will ensure that we will sustain this effort, as we continue to increase the capacities of our LGUs, address the lack of manpower in vaccination sites, and generate greater vaccine demand from our people,” Galvez pointed out.
He is optimistic that the country’s growing vaccine inventory will be complemented by the local government units’ more aggressive vaccine rollout in their respective localities.
“Everyone is now on the same page. This is because we share the same goal — our local chief executives, our business sector, and our healthcare workers — to have a merry Christmas and prosperous 2022,” he said.
“This is why we believe that the level of support coming from all levels of government as well as from the private sector should not waver and continue to intensify as we scale up our vaccination drive,” Galvez added.
To date, a total of 121,979,340 COVID-19 vaccine doses have been delivered to the country since February, with at least 46 million more doses expected to arrive in the coming days.
The vaccine czar said the administration of booster shots to healthcare workers and the third dose for immunocompromised individuals will also help ramp up the vaccine rollout within this quarter.
Galvez said he expects the Philippine Food and Drug Administration to soon release the amended Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for the COVID-19 vaccines, as the World Health Organization – Strategic Advisory Group of Experts is also nearing the completion of its recommendation for the administration of booster shots and third doses.
“We are anticipating all these regulatory requirements to be released soon as the Department of Health is already finalizing the policy guidelines for the booster shots and third dose,” he said.
More than five million individuals are expected to be eligible for booster shots and third doses of COVID-19 vaccines.